Category:Spina

General Information

 Parent Clan/Covenant: Daeva

 Sobriquet: Barbs

 Source: Invictus, p. 173

 Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Vigor and Dominate

Bloodline Gift: Clarity of Intention

It is impolite to visit someone without first giving notice of your intentions. How much more, then, should etiquette require of a visitation with the intention to destroy someone? This devotion recognizes this need for protocol, and gives the Kindred a bonus if he announces his violent intentions in advance.

The Spina must declare a physical attack and roll Presence + Intimidation + Majesty as an instant action. For each success the vampire can reduce the severity of penalties on her next attack by one. This penalty can be from any source, including environmental modifiers, increased difficulty for targeting a specific body part, and defense. Clarity of Intention can never grant a bonus, only reduce penalties.

Bloodline Bane

The Spina simply cannot tolerate rudeness. They suffer a –2 penalty to Resolve + Composure dice pools to resist any frenzy inspired by reckless, crass or insulting behavior. Of course, an anger frenzy is never polite behavior, so the Spina loathe this weakness of their souls. Further, all Spina Kindred must expend one point of Willpower to act in a discourteous manner to any creature. This includes overt insults, attacking an unarmed (or unclawed) opponent first, attacking an unaware opponent, etc.

Devotions

Barbed Words (Majesty •••, Vigor •••)

A Spina using this power does not fight physically, chastising and demoralizing her foes’ very flesh with her words. It is not even necessary for the Spina herself to move, or be able to move, to use this power, as long as she can speak.

 Cost: 2 vitae

 Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Majesty - victim's Composure

 Action: Instant

 Failure: Nothing happens.

 Success: Each success the Spina nets above her target's she causes one Lethal level of damage. This damage is lethal to vampires, and bypasses all mundane and natural armor.

 Exceptional Success: In addition to the damage, the victim takes the Beaten Down Tilt, which resolves once the Spina chooses to end the fight, when the victim surrenders, or when the victim escapes .

This Devotion costs 3 Experience.

Penalty of Discourtesy (Celerity ••, Majesty ••)

Many Kindred, particularly outside the Invictus, fail to appreciate the importance of courtesy. They seem to believe that being rude to their opponents makes them seem somehow more formidable or increases their chances of victory over a rattled foe. Spina with this level of control over Courtoisie are most able to show such Kindred the error of their ways, for being rude to such a vampire makes you very likely to lose a fight.

 Cost: None

 Dice Pool: Resolve + Composure + Majesty vs target's action's successes.

 Action: Reflexive and Contested. This power is rolled automatically in response to the actions of an enemy to provoke, taunt or intimidate the Spina, in place of any other dice pool that might normally be used to contest the opponent’s action. This power can even be used to combat attempts to terrify or undermine the Knight using Dominate, Majesty or Nightmare.

 Failure: Nothing happens.

 Success: The Spina achieves more successes on the activation roll than the provocateur did on his attempt to goad, frighten or humiliate the Spina. The Spina immediately regains one Willpower point, and his opponent immediately loses one. The Spina immediately regains one Willpower point, and his opponent immediately loses one. If the Knight's willpower pool is full, he or she instead enjoys a +2 bonus to Defense on attacks made by the target for the rest of the scene.

 Exceptional Success: The Spina gains two Willpower points, and the opponent loses two. If the Spina is unable to regain either of the Willpower points, he instead enjoys a +2 bonus to Defense against the opponent for each Willpower point he or she could not gain. This bonus lasts the rest of the scene.

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.

Fair Warning, Fairly Given (Celerity ••, Dominate ••)

This power allows a Kindred to gain some benefit from her magnanimity, as she draws mystical insight from studying his opponent’s preparations. The character may cut the preparations short at any time by announcing his intention to fight now. This can be very brief: “Enough delay, Dragon. Defend yourself,” is ample. The character may not, however, attack completely by surprise and retain the bonuses gained from this power.

 Cost: 1 Willpower

 Dice Pool: Wits + Weaponry + Celerity vs Composure + Blood Potency

 Action: Instant and Contested.

 Failure: Nothing happens.

 Success: The Spina is not only able to read his or her opponent, but also able to get into the opponent's head and affect their very ability to hit the Spina. For every success the Spina achieves on the activation roll, he or she gain a +1 bonus to the his or her Defense. This bonus lasts for the remainder of the scene, but applies only to an opponent who was the subject of this power’s activation. If time allows, however, a Spina can activate this power more than once in a scene to subject multiple opponents to his or her increased Defense. The Spina must be able to see the subject when this power is activated, but he does not have to maintain sight of her throughout the preparation process.

 Suggested Modifiers:

  +1 to +5 Each turn the subject spends preparing after the user initiates this power.

  –2 The subject declines to make use of the offered preparation time, or declines to fight at all.

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.

The Importance of Conversation (Majesty ••, Celerity •)

Combat is a very important, prestigious activity and it is crass to fight someone to whom you have not been introduced. Circumstances may mean that a Spina is forced to perform the introduction himself, but the Spina do not forgo the chance to talk first if they can help it. This is not a negotiation — it is often already decided that the conversation will end with a fight. A preceding conversation does, however, ensure that the combat is raised somewhat above the level of two beasts brawling in the gutter. A combat that is informed by the wit and passions of its participants has an elevated meaning for both participants and the ideas they represent.

 Cost: 1 willpower

 Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize + Majesty - Composure

 Action: Instant

This power can only be used after a few rounds of conversation with a person, during which the Spina feels out their opponent, and takes in all the subtle little details surrounding the talk. This requires talking, and though the opponent may not be very talkative, so long as they are responding in some way, this power will work. This will not work on an opponent that does nothing but silently stare at the Spina. After a few rounds of talking and observation, the Spina is able to adjust his or her stance, poise, combat strategy, and even hone his or her very blood to better suit combat. Once the power has been activated, its effects persist for the rest of the scene.

 Success: For each success on the activation roll, the Kindred may invoke one of the following effects in a scene when fighting that opponent:

• Substitute Manipulation for Dexterity in a close combat dice pool.
• Substitute Manipulation for Wits when calculating Defense.
• Substitute Manipulation for Dexterity when calculating Defense.
• Substitute Presence for Strength in a close combat dice pool.
• Substitute Socialize for Weaponry in a close combat dice pool.
• Substitute Intimidation for Brawl in a close combat dice pool.
• Add a +1 bonus to a single attack.

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.